X-ray emission from normal galaxies is the result of the collective X-ray emission of the X-ray binary (XRB) population which dominates in the hard X-rays, and the diffuse X-ray emission (hot gas) which is dominant in the soft X-rays. X-ray scaling relations between the luminosity of the XRB populations, the star- formation rate, and stellar mass, have served as an important tool for measuring the XRB component of any galaxy in the local Universe. I will discuss these explorations in individual galaxies using Chandra data, as well as the largest scale study of galaxy scaling relations so far using XMM-Newton data. Finally, I will discuss recent efforts in understanding the diffuse X-ray component of galaxies, by exploring our closest and highest resolution example, the Milky Way.